They Rise to Take Over the World

Woke up this morning to a Facebook wall filled with standing eggs. 

Apparently, this phenomenon marks the start of the spring equinox. 

Here's an extract from an article from New Straits Times,

"When the sun crosses the equator, making night and day equal on all parts of the earth, 

an egg can stand due to gravitational forces of the sun being aligned with the earth. 

Auspicious to the Chinese, Feb 4 is also known as Lup Chun day which marks 

the beginning of spring. A standing egg is seen as the symbol of spring and a sign that 

all of nature is balanced and in harmony." - Read more here.

Well, I'm not too sure about being in harmony.

They look like an army of eggs ready to seek revenge 

for all the eggs we have eaten. 

*shudders*

It is indeed a little freaky don't you think? Or is it just me and my crazy mind? 

I mean it sort of feels like it is something against nature yet it is in fact, 

occurring because of nature. Hmmm.

That aside, among the many photos I've seen on my Facebook wall, I had to say 

the above taken by Yen-san is my favourite one among all. I knew I had to 'stole' it 

with permission of course because I didn't managed to get a shot at this little 

phenomenon myself. 

Well there's always next year...

Tom Yam Kung is Tom Yam + Kang Kung?

Eeek! Lame pun is lame.

Anyway, we're really doing things differently this Chinese New Year. First with our kimchi-fied reunion dinner and today I decided to spice up the festivity with some sizzles from our neighbouring country. So we headed over to Aroy Chang Moo Kata at Burma Lane for some yummy Thai food. Cik Datang had previously offered me a promo voucher that entitles me to a set dinner for four for only RM78 nett. A pretty good deal for a big meal where a total of six dishes were served. 

So here we go!

The lame joke of the day! Tom Yam + Kung.

*food blogger mode on*

The soup was filled with generous ingredients from prawns, slices of fish flesh, 

cuttlefishes and mushrooms. The kang kung was not the usual sambal kang kung that we 

eat in Chinese 'zhu char' but instead carries a little tinge of sourness in it. Guess that's 

how the Thais prepare it. A tad weird for mom and me but a total hit with young sis. 

Dad seemed indifferent about it. 

Next up was Green Curry Chicken and Cha Om Omelette. 

I didn't taste much of the green curry because of the many dishes that were served, 

we decided to 'ta pao' it home. Hahaha. As for the pizza-looking omellete, well, 

we're still figuring what's the vege in it. *goes off to google* Oh! The vegetable in it is... 

*drumroll* Cha Om! Hahaha. It's actually Acacia pennata. *as if I know what's that* 

It was served with that little bowl of sambal. Yummy. 

Next to be served was the highlight of the meal, Phad Phed Fish!

The fish was stir-fried and served in a thick aromatic curry, topped with 

lots and lots of basil leaves. I like this even though I'm not a big fan of fried fish. 

I prefer my fish steamed, plain and fresh. Oh oh, and I like my fish as a whole. 

A big NO NO to a slice of steamed fish flesh. 

Oops! Went out of topic there. Hehe. Anyway, there was one more dish after that. 

Thai style deep fried chicken wings served with Thai chili sauce. Unfortunately, it came after we were all busy digging into our food, so no heart to take picture anymore lah. 

Just eat lah! 

Now, here's something worthy to mention about Aroy Chang Moo Kata. You see, Cik Datang 

had previously patronized this place and commented that the bowl of rice served was 

outrageously tiny that everyone definitely needs a second helping. It was the size of a tiny 

soup bowl. She said she had made her comments to the owner but not sure if they will actually take note of her feedback. 

Well, they did!

We were served with four regular size bowls of rice and only need one extra serving among 

four of us. Extra points for listening to customers' feedback. I know that for a fact because Mr Boss (well, I assumed he was the boss or person-in-charge at least) was very much interested in our opinion on the food. When mom enquired about the surprisingly good lemongrass drink, he quickly asked us how was the food when we had not even started on our meal yet even though the dishes were already on the table. LOL. Talk about real enthusiasm. Hahaha. He notably enquired again when we asked for the bill. *claps claps*

So yup! 

Not exactly super-awesome meal but was definitely super-awesome service!

A Rather Different Reunion Dinner

Ever since our Christmas dinner last month, I was on a roll in churning out 

'special' meal ideas for the family to celebrate every possible occasion. 

From a roast-turkey-wannabe to a mouthwatering miso-marinated BBQ pork. 

Y.u.m.m.y! Just the mere thought of it is making me salivate. 

So how can we celebrate Chinese New Year 

with just another usual steamboat right?

No Siree! Now the picture above might look like any other 

steamboats in any other households...

...BUT...

Take a look at that my friends!

"Ceh... tomyam you say?"

NOoooooo! Impossibru!

That my dear friends is a kimchi-jigae steamboat yo!

Now look at that happy korean-loving sister smiling one for the camera.

You bet I'm smiling too behind the camera.

Now let us roll the date back to a few weeks prior to the highly-anticipated 

reunion dinner. It was already decided then that we were going to do a steamboat this year

but... a sudden light bulb appeared over my head and then I calculated the risk 

and voiced out the idea.

"I got an idea for our steamboat!"

"What? You want to do miso soup is it?" 

-___-

*so sarcastic and yet so close to the truth as well*

"Umm... no and I not sure if we should risk it since it's reunion dinner

but I was thinking of doing... kimchi stew?"

*few seconds of silence*

"The one like we had in that Korean restaurant the other day?"

"Umm... yup but I don't know lah since I've never tried to cook it before...

maybe we shouldn't...." 

"Ok."

Ehh?!?! Hahaha. And so Kimchi Jigae steamboat it is! 

If you must know, it was not bad at all. Hehe. The funny thing was mom kept insisting that we need more soup, so I ended up cooking two pots full and guess what, we had leftovers! Hmmph! But all's good because we threw in some noodles and had ourselves some Kimchi Ramen for lunch this afternoon instead.

Y.U.M.M.Y

So I guess it's time to look at the calendar and see what's the next occasion. 

Woohoo!

Oh oh... Happy Chinese New Year everyone! 

A Little Late but Hey Chinese New Year is a 15-Day Celebration Right?

GONG XI FA CAI!

Korea Called And Told Me He's In Front Of My House

Got a call one day from an unknown number while I was at work.

[SCENE 1: Vin answers the call]

Mysterious Caller: Hello, Ms Jovin?

Me: Yes?

Mysterious Caller: mumbles mumbles Korea mumbles...

Me: Huh? Korea? *If there's anywhere, Mysterious Caller sounded very much like 'India' to me*

Mysterious Caller: Korea... ini Korea!

Me: *still not getting it*

Mysterious Caller: Hantar barang!

Me: Ohh! Courier!

*******

He probably thought ini Ah Moi tak reti Bahasa Inggeris. Imagine that! It almost sounded like I was the one who failed English. -__-

*******

[SCENE 2: Mysterious Caller shall henceforth be reintroduced as Courier Guy.]

Courier Guy: Saya kat depan rumah sekarang. Hantar barang dari Ipoh!

Me: Ah! *I knew instantly who the sender was* Rumah tak ada orang keh?

Courier Guy: Ada kut.

Me: Okay, I telefon rumah, you tunggu ya.

*******

And so I called and finally someone at home opened the door and received the package on my behalf.

*******

You get Chinese New Year cards,
I get Big Box of Goodies for Chinese New Year!



*stares*
Ummm... not exactly what I was expecting.



TADAAA!
Improved version of Kawaii Cookies.
Much more refined, much more cleaner, much more cuter
and much much more heartwarming...


...because this time, it came in abundance!


Green Pea Cookies!
Honestly who else sends self-made cookies like Cheah-san?


*hugs cookie bottles*

Oh yes!
The rabbits somehow managed to hop all the way from Ipoh too.

*sigh in contentment*

In conclusion, you don't really need a lot of friends.
You just need a few awesome ones.
♥

Plus points if they're nifty bakers!

*grins*

Ho! Ho! Ho! Gong Xi Christmas!

Just got home from Kuala Lumpur today
and guess what I got waiting in the mail for me?

A Christmas Card!

Say Woot?!?

A greeting card arrives and you would have thought it would be a Chinese New Year card. I think Cubbie dear has just taken procrastination to the next level. Hahahaha! And apparently said card has gone all wonky after so long. While she insisted that the card sings a very long verse of Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, all I got was a repetitive two liners. *grins*

I kid you not Cubbie! Pwease Klik Pway. XD

Now now. There's a lot to be done after a four-day trip, loads of cleaning, washing and helping out. Not to mention only one day left to reciprocate before I head for battle on Monday again. Argh.

What's a week worth when you don't see the exact value of it?

It's Alive!

One and a half month into the new year and I finally got my first post up. (which now has turned to the second post, no thanks to the unofficial first post here *frowns*) Woot woot. I so fail at blogging. Then again, there was really nothing much to blog about in January. It was all about cleaning, cleaning and well, more cleaning. Oh! But I did capture some good old memories while cleaning.

A handmade card from sis back when she was... umm still unable to spell correctly.

"So I going to say tank for or the love and the thing that you tot me. Say everytime you and your big mouth owes tal daddy what I do. So I stal love you. So I going to wise you a Merry Christmas."

AWWWW!!

"Oh sis, let me tal you, I wil owes love you too!"

And then I found this! Dominos missed me!

Double AWWWW......

Who says cleaning is a chore? Okay, maybe it is but it's also sentimental when you go digging out old stuff like these in the midst of all that cleaning.

BUT

BUT

BUT!

When you are forced to get rid of stuff, that's when cleaning becomes a pain in the... heart! *ouch* T__T

No more VCR player and bye bye video tapes.

More Awwwwwwwwwww!

My Slam Dunk series! Almost all 93 episodes of it recorded in these tapes. So I might never get to watch them through these tapes again. Yes I can get digital formats of these. But nothing brings back memories than these old dusty tapes. *sobs* And so I kept half of them. =P Hahaha... it's a give-take win-win situation. Dad get his additional drawer space, I get my memories. Or at least half of them. Boo!

Slam Dunk was/is my epic anime aka teenage memory. I had wet eyes watching the last episode. I mean come on, who cry over an anime about basketball? Me. *blushes* But then again it was my love for Slam Dunk that got me into exploring the world wide web, which led me to learn about creating a fan site and thus, I gained basic knowledge of html way before I left school for college. Hah! That's how significant the series is to me. And yes, I do own the complete set of manga, too. And a 1000 pieces jigsaw puzzle, a big cloth poster hanging behind the door and cute little miniature model of the players. And and, stickers and and... poker cards! Woot?! Hahaha...

They might all be covered with a layer of dust now but these are memories. My memories. Boy do I feel nostalgic.

A Very "Ang Mor" Chinese New Year

Day 2 of Chinese New Year

My longevity mee was spaghetti.
Don't get me wrong, I ♥ spaghetti a lot.

*******

Day 3 of Chinese New Year

Went visiting. Waffles and scones were served instead of cookies and common sweet delights. Again don't get me wrong, they were yummy.

But still very Ang Mor loh.

*LOL*

And if you thought Day 1 should somehow at least be very Chinese.

Think again!

*******

Day 1 of Chinese New Year

I greeted Chinese New Year in old fashion pyjamas with a good glass of red wine.

Well, at least I was in a Chinese-ish pyjamas lah!

=P

Happy "Ang Mor" Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gong xi fa cai!
I'm off to get my share of ang pows and of course in return spread all good blessings to these wonderful people. If you're reading this, you're one of them too. :-)

That's my first ang pow of the day, of the year. From dad of course. :-) yup, am in the car right now heading to my grandparents place. Lol. Does this made this a live teleblog or something? Hehe..

Alright, dad's pretty bored driving alone so I'm off to bug him now. Once again, 恭喜发财!

Mickey says "It's my year!"

The Celebration Might Be Over

but

The Year Has Not!

And this thus marks the last CNY post for Hiyashibeeps

Or is it?

I'm not too sure cause I know I always got a whole lot more to say but never get around doing it. *sigh*

The Good Old Fashion Way

And I do literally mean the good old fashion way.


TA-DA!

It's been years since I last got myself in such a pyjamas. The last time I attempt I told the sales girl that I'm looking for such a pyjamas, she told me people rarely look for this kind anymore, unless I'm getting married. DOT! I could swear she was laughing at me on the inside. -.-;; I continue my search but I never open my mouth and voice my request ever again after that. Till mom presented me with this right on Chinese New Year's Eve. Haha.

I say people don't know how to appreciate the little things in life and the little things we were brought up with.

***********

And in funny English I said
"Look me. Look me."

and mom said
"Well well. You don't actually look like a Vietnamese girl going off to do her marketing."

Fine. I admit I'm weird that way. *sigh*

新年快樂 2008!

Do It Like Grandma

The following short messages are brought to you by hiyashibeeps.

Clickie for bigger picture.

Ran out of glue to stick the red paper around every single possible thing for Chinese New Year. Resolved in doing it the traditional way. Hmmph. Nothing stops me when I'm determined. *snickers*

And if your house ran out of gas. Here's the first option you should have used in the first place. Trust me. I just had my very very delicious dinner. And this is the reason behind it. *burpies*

This marks my first Chinese New Year post for 2008.

Yes. There will be more.

Happy Chinese New Year!